Many major retail employers are now using massive joint databases for what many people consider to be an effort to blacklist past employees. These same companies that already go through the process of extensive background checks through official channels are also paying third party companies that compile databases with more qualitative and generally arguable information about possible job candidates. Employee thefts made up about 44% of all retail thefts in 2011 and has been on a slowly rising trend. Many of these cases are the result of the blame being pegged on an employee for missing merchandise or mistakes dealing with employee store rates yet data owned by these third party companies may state something like "verified-store theft" which often may cause the employer to discard a potential candidates application altogether. Databases like these are currently legal to operate and many class-action law suits are currently happening over inaccurate or misleading data and over compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
My issue with databases like these is the fact that many will take statements made by either a boss or co-worker that has little or no physical evidence and how such statements can be misinterpreted especially when dealing with people who have worked in various sectors of the economy where norms may differ. Most of the people who have profiles in these databases are unaware that they even exist and may be unable to explain themselves to potential employers because the data these third party services provide may prevent an interview from ever occurring. Society should ask itself whether it feels that massive databases that are non-federally regulated and widely accessible by corporations are fair in a world where regulations and laws are often broken without the perpetrator being any the wiser.
some of the many companies that are LexisNexus Esteem members
source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/business/retailers-use-databases-to-track-worker-thefts.html?ref=technology
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